The other day, when I was taking the images for the “Embrace Diversity” series, all the Dedes were on their best behaviour. The idea was to photograph puppets that wouldn’t normally go together, like Rob the thief and Bobby the policeman. Surprisingly, when they forgot about their professions, they are actually not that different at all and they shared a good old yarn over a beer. Foxy Lady – who tangoed with Harvey, the rabbit – told me afterwards how much she enjoyed the dancing. She admitted she was brought up hating rabbits. That was just the way it was at home and she never questioned it. Not in her wildest dreams would she have thought Harvey could be so much fun.

I got six images I am really happy with and they are already on the tshirts now. The only pairing that didn’t work for me was Mrs Esta Blished, the fairy godmother, and Devil. These two where whispering to each other all afternoon. When I looked at the pictures later I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. When the image is cropped to their heads only they look okay. It just looks like Devil is letting Mrs Esta Blished in on a secret. But when you see the entire image, it looks more like he is hassling her. I better watch this. Despite being a devil, I have never had any complaints about him so far. But then, it could as well mean that nobody dares to speak up. Until I know the whole story I can’t really use this image.

This story tells a big part of my life.”We’ll walk hand in hand, we shall work together, we shall overcome some day” (Joan Baez) By the way, I’m really surprised to get to know some of Volkers sisters fourty years later. But it makes sense. It’s a nice story, but let’s watch the Devil.

Ah yes, he did like to hide his sisters, didn’t he. I guess he had enough of them in more than one way :).
The story of Devil reminds me of Goethe’s Faust, a scene in the study: “I am part of that power which would // The Evil ever do and ever does the Good.”
We have to see what happens.